Apple lodges glass entrance patent

Apple is seeking to patent the cylindrical glass panel which forms the entrance to Apple’s Pudong, Shanghai, store.

The 12m-high glass cylinder marks the entrance to the Chinese underground megastore, similar to the glass cube adorning Apple’s Fifth Avenue, New York, store.

The patent, filed with the US Patent & Trademark Office, describes the structure as “a building panel” in “a cylindrical shape, where each panel comprises a single, or monolithic, glass piece, where each glass piece is substantially rectangular and includes two opposing long sides extending in a height direction and two opposing short sides extending substantially in a width direction, and where each glass piece forms an identical circular arc when viewed from either of the two opposing short sides”.

The Next Web reports that the gigantic, curved glass panels were produced by Beijing-based North Glass Safety Glass Co, and designed by David Andreini of US architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

The company has designed 14 Apple stores across the world, including the Fifth Avenue cube, Australia’s flagship store in Sydney, Ginza, Japan, and London’s Regent Street store.

The Pudong store opened in mid-2010 and is one of five Apple stores in China.